THOSE REMEMBERED ON THE FALFIELD WAR MEMORIAL WHO DIED DURING THE 1914-18 WAR

THOSE REMEMBERED ON THE FALFIELD WAR MEMORIAL WHO DIED DURING THE 1914-18 WAR

JOHN KINGSCOTT MILLARD

JOHN KINGSCOTT MILLARD

On the Commonwealth War Grave Commisions website his name is recorded as John Kingscote Millard
WW1-centenary

Private

Date Born

Circa 1887 (Baptised in Stone Church on 6th March 1887)

Birth place:

Ham, Nr Berkeley, Gloucestershire 

Date of Death:

25th September 1915

Fate:

Killed in action

Duty Location:

France and Flanders

Buried:

No known grave. Commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 37 and 39.

The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war. The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded in securing the town before the onset of winter, pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The Second Battle of Ypres began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the Allied lines north of Ypres. This was the first time gas had been used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence. There was little more significant activity on this front until 1917, when in the Third Battle of Ypres an offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces to divert German attention from a weakened French front further south. The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from the Messines Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault north-eastward, which began at the end of July, quickly became a dogged struggle against determined opposition and the rapidly deteriorating weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November with the capture of Passchendaele. The German offensive of March 1918 met with some initial success, but was eventually checked and repulsed in a combined effort by the Allies in September. The battles of the Ypres Salient claimed many lives on both sides and it quickly became clear that the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth forces with no known grave would have to be divided between several different sites. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates those of all Commonwealth nations (except New Zealand) who died in the Salient, in the case of United Kingdom casualties before 16 August 1917. Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. Other New Zealand casualties are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery. The YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick, was unveiled by Lord Plumer in July 1927.

Menin Gate War Memorial Remembered on panels 37 & 39

Regiment:

2nd Battalion Worcester Regiment

Rank:

Service No:

7941

Military Information:

5th (Service) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was raised at Oxford in August 1914 as part of Kitchener’s First New Army and joined 42nd Brigade, 14th (Light) Division. After training they proceeded to France, landing at Bologne on the 21st of May 1915. They fought in the The Action of Hooge, being the first division to be attacked by flamethrowers. They were in action in The Second Attack on Bellewaarde. In 1916 they were on the Somme seeing action in The Battle of Delville Wood and The Battle of Flers-Courcelette. In 1917 they fought in The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, The First and Third Battle of the Scarpe at Arras, The Battle of Langemark and The First and Second Battle of Passchendaele. In 1918 they returned to the Somme and were in action during The Battle of St Quentin and The Battle of the Avre, suffering very heavy casualties with almost 6,000 men of the Division killed or injured The Division was withdrawn from the front line and were engaged building a new defensive line to the rear. On the 27th of April, the battalion was reduced to a cadre and on the 16th of June thet transferred to 16th (Irish) Division and returned to England. On the 20th of June 1918 they were absorbed by the 18th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment.

Medals Awarded

1914/15 Star & Clasp

The 1914/15 star campaign medal of the British Empire for his service in World War One.

Given the information available, John Kingscott Millard was was awarded the 1914 star campaign medal of the British Empire for his service in World War One. A narrow horizontal bronze clasp sewn onto the ribbon, bearing the dates ‘5th AUG. – 22nd NOV. 1914′ shows that the recipient had actually served under fire of the enemy during that period. For every seven medals issued without a clasp there were approximately five issued with the clasp. Recipients who received the medal with the clasp were also entitled to attach a small silver heraldic rose to the ribbon when just the ribbon was being worn.

Victory Medal

Eligibility for the Victory Medal consisted of having been mobilised, fighting, having served in any of the theatres of operations, or at sea, between midnight 4th/5th August, 1914, and midnight, 11th/12th November, 1918. Women who served in any of the various military organisations in a theatre of operations were also eligible.

British War Medal

The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the 1st World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in silver and 110,000 in bronze, the latter awarded to, among others, the Chinese, Maltese and Indian Labour Corps

The 1914/15 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. With Pip representing either the 1914/15 Star or the 1914 Star, only one of which could be awarded to a soldier, Squeak represented the British War Medal and Wilfred represented the Victory Medal.

MEMORIAL PLAQUE

The Next of Kin Memorial Plaque is a bronze plaque approximately 11 cms or 4½ inches diameter with the name of someone who died serving with the British and Empire forces in the First World War. This was issued to the Next of Kin of the casualty along with a scroll. They were posted out separately, typically in 1919 and 1920, and a ‘King’s message’ was enclosed with both, containing a facsimile signature of the King.
The immediate next of kin of all who died serving with the British and Empire forces in the First World War were eligible to receive the plaque and scroll. With nearly a million dead for the British Army alone, the plaques are today still commonly found; the fragile scrolls survive less often. Some of those recorded by plaques and scrolls were not eligible for service medals, for instance, those who did not serve overseas but who died in service through accident or illness.

This is the Memorial Plaque for Charles William Cole. We are grateful to his family to allow this to be shown here

Parents:

Thomas and Harriet Ann Millard, of Hystfield, Berkeley, Glos.

Other Information:

In the 1901 census John was working as a servant for William R C Isaac who was a farmer in Lower Stone. In the 1911 census he was in the 1st Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in India.

John is also remembered on the Berkeley War Memorial.

Credits: St George’s Church Baptism and Burial Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Ancestry website, forces-war-records.co.uk , scribes-alcove

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This page was last updated on: Jan 28, 2022 @ 7:47 PM

The production and updating of information on this page is compiled on a voluntary basis. If you should find any errors or omissions please contact us by using the contact page
This page was last updated on: Jan 28, 2022 @ 7:47 PM